Snorkeling in the ABC's

[wenocancer2]

Will be cruising the ABC islands (Aruba , Bonaire & Curacao) next year and am in the planning stages.  We definitely want to do some snorkeling at at least one of these spots.  We are all new to snorkeling (pretty much just surface snorkel with an occasional dive under).  Which port would be the best place to do this?

[chrislo]

We have done it in Curacao and thought it was great.  We booked a private tour with Around Curacao Tours.  He took us to many great sites where we could snorkel from the shore without all the tourists.

[coevan]

Bonaire is one of the best diving islands, world renowned 

[bluehengal]

Bonaire.  Woodwind Snorkel was great.  They separate you into groups based on your abilities and there is a guide with each group to point out fish.  Would highly recommend them.

[kctwinmommy]

We were in Aruba and Curacao and my husband, son, and friend and his son snorkeled in both places! Our son had became an excellent swimmer, so he really enjoyed both places way more than when we went to Key West like 2 years earlier. I can't speak to Bonaire, but the other two were great they said. In Curacao we did a little excursion to a resort, so they boated us over there, we had drink tickets, chairs/umbrella, and stayed there until sunset, then bused back. In Aruba we just grabbed some taxis and went to the beach that was over by the airport. Just hung out there, no crowds, etc.... and they saw a ton of things! And in both places, they didn't have to go that far out.

 

This was in Aruba, there were very few people and they didn't go that far out. But saw a lot!

Edited January 21, 2020 by kctwinmommy

[OCruisers]

Bonaire!   Enjoy!  :)

[thon]

Bonaire is hands down the best place to snorkel in the ABC Islands.

[kdawg954]

Cosign Bonaire . . . it might be the best cruise port in the Caribbean for snorkeling.  

 

I did the ABC islands 3 years ago.

 

Aruba - Nicest Beaches

Bonaire - Best snorkeling

Curacao - Most culture/sightseeing opportunity

 

You can’t go wrong with that plan and it gives you a little bit of everything to do.  

 

[NateUpNorth]

20 hours ago, kdawg954 said:

Cosign Bonaire . . . it might be the best cruise port in the Caribbean for snorkeling.  

 

I did the ABC islands 3 years ago.

 

Aruba - Nicest Beaches

Bonaire - Best snorkeling

Curacao - Most culture/sightseeing opportunity

 

You can’t go wrong with that plan and it gives you a little bit of everything to do.  

 

 

This is the best and most accurate description of the ABC's cruise IMO.

To the original poster - Snorkel in Bonaire. The 2 companies most recommended around here are Woodwind and Sea Cow.

If you choose to book them start contacting them already to see how far out they take reservations.

My current Woodwind reservation was booked +/- 1 year.

[cleobella]

I would say that Bonaire is best for snorkeling.  There is a reef there and if you go out with a tour or guide you will have a great experience.  We also really enjoyed Boca Catalina. I think you would need to bring your snorkel gear, but it is an easy walk out into the water, you will look down and see tons of fish.  Then you can swim out a bit and it is relatively shallow, we saw eels, starfish and a sea tortoise.  Schools of fishes swam with us, amazing.  You could taxi there early in the morning.  There is a very nice guy there who rents chairs or just flop on your towel, if you are not staying long.  It was a great beach.  We also like Baby Beach, and you can snorkel there too, not as much to see though.

[momof4blessings]

We just got back from an ABC cruise and snorkeled all 3 places. We had such a great time! I'm going to post what we did each island on the boards for that port.

 

We never did any tours (cost adds up with 4 kids) but brought our own snorkeling gear (I bought each of us a $15-20 full face snorkel masks on amazon, and we had fins...you can sometimes find at thrift stores or borrow from someone. Definitely recommend the full-face masks!).

[jean87510]

Try Mangel Halto for Aruba as well as boca catalina.

[cruiseapril]

If the ship stops in Bonaire- that is the place to snorkel.

 

If it goes only to the other abc's  , Curacao is a good place to snorkel.

 

Be sure to e-mail and ask about equipment.